History of Passion....

 Just as many of the World’s greatest creations, Yesterday’s Rides was born and bred from passion.

Started in 1981 by President, Don “Hot Rod” Jackson as a side business to his already existing Industrial Metal Fabrication Company, Dawn Metal Fab, he created this new offspring to pursue his first love….Hot Rodding. Asked by an old friend, Rich Hoak of Zig’s Alignment and Street Rod Parts if he could build a 1954 Chevy 2-Door Hardtop for a member of his car club, Don willingly agreed and formed Yesterday’s Rides Metalworks…thus the Legacy began.

Don completed the ’54 and went on to do several other project cars, and then in 1986, he began building the steel reinforcing for Wescott’s fiberglass bodies which he continued to do for 25 years until the illness and unfortunate passing of Founder Dee Wescott.  Also, in 1986, asked by another friend if he could tackle a project of a different sort, Don was introduced to his first Doodle Bug Motor Scooter…at least the first he’d seen since asking his Father for one at the age of 9, only to get a “Columbia Paperboy Special” bicycle instead. Given a frame, front fender, fork and handlebars Don was imparted with the task of recreating a working, original Doodle Bug…There it too began…

Don had been bitten by the “Bug” and at that moment his quest to resurrect the Doodle Bug from near extinction, piece by piece, rebuilding…recreating…reinventing it, his passion had been set in motion.  In turn, passionate people tend to attract others with the same quality.

Don had been doing work for another friend Jim Pettite, owner at the time of Raceway Services in Salem,  building some parts and making modifications for the Royal Enfield Motorcycles he carried, when Jim asked him if he could design and build hand controls for a new line of motorcycle he had picked up. Jim being a disabled Veteran realized the Ural, a Russian Sidecar Motorcycle, was the perfect bike for a handicap person to ride and Jim’s passion to help those that loved to ride, get back on the road spawned the next chapter for Yesterday’s Rides. Since (1999), he’s been designing and producing a full line of accessories and modifications for the Ural through Raceway Services. 

There are many more stories and many yet to be written for Yesterday’s Rides but the foundation will always remain the same……We are Passionate about our Work!